SFNL: Josh Caddy fired off seven goals to seal an upset win for Port Melbourne Colts

Josh Caddy played a telling hand in a Southern league upset. Co-coach Justin Taylor reveals how the Colts rectified previous mistakes with their ex-AFL men and how they’ll attack the final three weeks.

Josh Caddy. Picture : George Sal

Port Melbourne Colts co-coach Justin Taylor declared Josh Caddy’s performance on Saturday a timely reminder of what the two-time premiership Tiger can do.

Caddy, who has been unavailable at times this year due to travel and work, slotted seven goals to steer the Colts to their first major scalp of the season.

The 12.12 (84) to 8.12 (60) win over second-placed St Paul’s McKinnon is the Colts’ first win against a side above them on the ladder this year.

Taylor said the Colts have failed to use ex-AFL men Caddy and Tom Bellchambers to their advantage this year but saw the rewards of what isolating them can do on Saturday.

“We had Cadds and Bellchambers down there and to be fair we probably haven’t utilised them as best we can in games this year,” he said.

“But we were able to get them one-on-one and it doesn’t matter which defence it is, if they’re one-on-one, we think they’re a chance to score a goal.

“We isolated him yesterday and he just went to work and showed why he’s a two-time premiership player and done what he’s done in the game.

“He’ll play the rest of the year, as long as his hamstrings hold on

“He’s in pretty good nick, he keeps himself in pretty good shape so all things going well we’ll have him every game.”

Josh Caddy.Picture: George Sal

Taylor said the result was “for a bit of belief” going into the final stretch of the season and next year.

“We needed to beat a good side to get some belief, even if it’s going into next year with it,” he said.

“It was really important from a club level, to play the way we’ve been wanting to play for the whole season, to put it together was fantastic.

“We spoke before the game about our defensive resilience, we have bad patches and they’ve let in five, six goals.

“To stand up when St Paul’s came at us was great, the boys held steady.”

Darrean Wyatt. Picture: Andy Brownbill

The win is likely to be too late for the Colts, who will need to go unbeaten and hope other teams around them lose on the run home.

But Taylor thinks the lack of expectation makes the Colts dangerous in the final rounds.

“There’s a little bit of pressure off, so we’ve just got to keep winning and hopefully results fall our away,” he said.

“The last couple games, the East Brighton game really hurt, but now the shackles are off and we can play with a bit more freedom.

“We were able to do a couple of moves, we put a young kid, Bailey Rudd, on (Brayden) O’Toole yesterday – he’s 17 years old – and he kept him goalless.

“We can get looks at that now, we’re going to just see what happens.”

The Colts have Dingley, Bentleigh and Cheltenham on the run home.